PANGONG DISENGAGEMENT OVER, OTHER FRICTION POINTS TO BE DISCUSSED TODAY

Making significant headway in attempts to resolve the nine-month military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, Chinese and Indian troops have completed the first phase of disengagement on the north and south banks of Pangong Tso, and their senior commanders will meet Saturday morning to discuss the pullback of troops from the other friction points in the region.

Official sources said the disengagement of artillery, tanks and troops from heights was completed Wednesday, but the two sides had to verify it on the ground and this was done Thursday.

“Everything that was agreed upon at the ninth round of talks (on January 24) has been achieved. At Pangong Tso, we have achieved status quo ante. On the north bank, China has pulled its troops east of Finger 8 (which India says marks the LAC) and India is holding its position behind Finger 3 at the Dhan Singh Thapa post. All temporary structures, erected by China in the (temporary no-patrolling) stretch between, have been levelled,” a govt official said.

“We too have vacated the heights at Rechin La and Rezang La on the south bank as per the agreement. In fact, China has shown unexpected alacrity in vacating the positions it held. This has raised hopes of results in the forthcoming meetings on outstanding issues,” the official said.

The Corps Commander-level talks are scheduled to start 10 am Saturday at the Moldo border point facing Chushul. This is in line with what Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in Parliament on February 11 while announcing the start of the Pangong Tso disengagement — “It has also been agreed to convene the next meeting of the Senior Commanders within 48 hours after the complete disengagement in the Pangong Lake area so as to address and resolve all other remaining issues.”

SCOTT MORRISON’S CALL TO MODI, OVER TUSSLE WITH TECH GIANTS

Australia has reached out to India among several countries, including Canada, France and the UK, in a move to stitch a global coalition against tech giants Google and Facebook amid a faceoff over compensation for sharing news content from media companies on their platforms.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, and later said that they “discussed the progress” on Australia’s “News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code Bill 2020”.

Under the proposed law — News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code Bill 2020 — Australia seeks to mandate a bargaining code that aims to force Google and Facebook to compensate media companies for using their content. The legislation is being closely watched the world over, given that it sets a precedent in regulating social media across

While Google has agreed to pay news organisations in Australia, Facebook has decided to black out news content from the country on its social networking platform.

From Monday, the Bill will be debated in the Australian Senate, which is expected to adopt the law by the end of the week. It has already been passed by the lower House of Australian Parliament.

Morrison has said that the country’s fight to make Facebook pay for news content could go global as he has had “promising” talks with other world leaders. He said that he has spoken to Modi and Canada’s Justin Trudeau about the ban.

French President Emmanuel Macron and UK PM Boris Johnson are also “watching closely” as Australia battles

In India, any discussion on the impact of intermediary platforms on the health of news media outlets is yet to commence in any meaningful way.

AFTER ENVOYS’ VISIT TO JK, EU FOR ‘EARLY ASSEMBLY POLLS’

After the third visit of envoys to Jammu and Kashmir organised by the Indian govt, the European Union has said it looks forward to “early organisation of the Legislative Assembly elections”. This is the first time that the EU has flagged the issue of early polls in the region.

EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto apart from envoys of several EU member states were part of the group that visited J&K on February 17-18, on the invitation of the Ministry for External Affairs.

During their visit to J&K, the envoys met civil and military authorities, some leaders elected in the recent District Development Council elections, and selected civil society representatives, the spokesperson said. However, they did not get to meet senior leaders like former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.

An EU spokesperson in Brussels said Friday, “We look forward to a number of other important steps to be taken in the political and economic sphere (in J&K), including the early organisation of the Legislative Assembly elections.” “We have taken note of recent steps such as the elections to District Development Councils and the resumption of 4G Internet services. The right to freedom of expression online and offline is a key value for all democracies,” she said. The spokesperson added that the visit gave an opportunity “to see the situation on the ground and interact with local interlocutors, as part of the EU’s outreach to all stakeholders”. “We look forward to continuing our dialogue with India on this.”

The visit to J&K came ahead of a possible trip by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Portugal in May for an India-EU summit, which was scheduled to happen last year in Brussels but was cancelled due to the pandemic.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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US OFFICIALLY REJOINS CLIMATE DEAL AS TEXAS REELS UNDER ARCTIC FREEZE

The US rejoined the Paris climate accord on Friday even as a Texas-sized political controversy erupted in the country over collapsed power grids and water supply disruption — widely attributed to global warming — in the Republican-run state.

More than 50 people have died from a winter storm that has left millions without power, heat, and water supply in a state famed for warm weather. Local officials, including the state’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott, have blamed “green energy” for the catastrophe, specifically blaming frozen wind turbines for blackouts, and using it as a stick to beat the Green New Deal that Democrats and liberals are advocating. Renewable energy proponents, including Bill Gates, are pushing back, pointing out that the state runs largely on fossil fuels and wind power accounted for less than 13% of the 30 to 35 gigawatts of total outages.

The embarrassing disaster has China rubbing its hands in glee even as President Biden is walking Washington back into the climate change accord, which his predecessor Donald Trump took the US out of to walk into the cold. “Not to be wanting of food or clothing, not to be hungry or cold, this is the fundamental human right that is the most real,” China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying implicily sneered in Beijing. “In the meantime in Texas ... millions of people found themselves caught in the terrible situation of not having electricity and heating at home, a few tens of people even lost their lives because of this.”

Although electricity has been restored in most of the state, supermarkets are reported to be running out of food and 13 million — half of the state’s population — are under ‘boil water’ orders, with many still without power after five days.

While many Texans are freezing, there is plenty of heat in the political circuit where the state’s Senator Ted Cruz is being roasted for fleeing to sunny Cancun across the border to escape the disaster.

BIDEN ADMIN READY FOR TALKS WITH IRAN

The Joe Biden administration says it’s ready to join talks with Iran and world powers to discuss a return to the 2015 nuclear deal, in a sharp repudiation of former President Trump’s “maximum pressure campaign” that sought to isolate the Islamic Republic. Besides signalling on Thursday a willingness to talk with Iran, the administration also reversed Trump’s determination that all UN sanctions against Iran had been restored. And, it eased stringent restrictions on the domestic travel of Iranian diplomats posted to the UN. The state department announced the moves following discussions between secretary of state Antony Blinken and his British, French and German counterparts.

However, Iran reacted coolly to Washington’s offer to revive talks with Tehran. When sanctions are lifted, “we will then immediately reverse all remedial measures. Simple,” foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter.

THE REST

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COVID CASES RISE IN MAHARASHTRA BUT NO FOREIGN STRAIN FOUND

New strains of coronavirus found in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil have not been detected in Amravati, Yavatmal and Satara districts of Maharashtra where cases have spiked recently, the state govt said on Friday.

In view of increase in cases in Western Maharashtra's Pune, Sarata districts and Amravati and Yavatmal in Vidarbha region, genome sequencing of coronavirus samples from these areas was carried out, the health department said.

On Thursday, an official had said that researchers had found two new mutations in coronavirus samples from Amravati and Yavatmal districts, but no foreign strain of virus was found.

These new mutations were characterized by the virus' ability to escape neutralising antibodies in the host person's body, said Dr Rajesh Karyekarte, head of the Department of Microbiology at the state-run B J Medical College in Pune.

Dr Subhash Salunke, technical adviser to the Maharashtra govt on the COVID-19 outbreak, said a virus mutation found in Amaravati seemed to be more infectious.

On Thursday, Maharashtra recorded more than 5,000 new cases after a gap of 75 days.

AFTER UTTARAKHAND FLASH FLOOD, AN EARLY WARNING WATER-LEVEL SENSOR

The Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has installed a siren-based early warning water-level sensor system at Raini village in Chamoli district to alert the villagers and disaster management authorities in case of sudden rise in the Rishi Ganga water level.

The move comes after a flash flood on February 7 led to the death of 62 people, washed away the Rishi Ganga hydro-power project and damaged NTPC’s hydro power project downstream in Tapovan area. Search operations for missing people Raini village and Tapovan were ongoing as of Friday, and 142 people are still missing.

SDRF commandant Navneet Bhullar said that one water-level sensor has been installed that will sound an alarm when the river’s water level rises above 3.5 metres. He said the alarm will be audible up to a 5-km radius, and in case of a power cut, will audible up to 1-km.

UNNAO CASE: JILTED LOVER AMONG 2 HELD; GAVE PESTICIDE TO GIRLS

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday held two people in connection with the deaths of two teenage girls at an Unnao village, accusing them of murder over a one-sided love affair.

The third victim in the case is battling for life at a hospital.

One of the accused held in the case is a teenager, according to police.

"The accused gave some pesticide with water to the three girls," Lucknow Range IG Laxmi Singh told reporters in Unnao.Both accused are residents of Pathakpur village in the Ashoha area and were held on a tip-off, the IG said.

Earlier in the day, the last rites of the two teenage girls were performed amid tight security arrangements, officials said. Komal, 15, and Kajal, 14, were buried in their agriculture fields in the presence of senior officials and police personnel.

TWO TOP ACADEMIES: NEW WEBINAR RULES COULD HALT ALL SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION

India’s two largest and oldest science academies have written to the Ministry of Education to say that its recent order mandating institutions to seek Govt clearance for all webinars could “lead to a complete halt of all topical scientific discussions” and “impede” the interest of science among the young.

The Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences, India, together include more than 2,500 of India’s top scientists. The first two have sent separate letters to Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal seeking withdrawal of these “blanket restrictions.”

The order, issued on January 15 — in the wake of new procedure notified by the Ministry of External Affairs last November — asks all govt entities, including publicly funded educational institutions and universities, to “seek approval” of the respective “administrative Secretary” for organizing any “online/virtual international conferences/seminars/training etc”.

TOOLKIT CASE: DELHI COURT SENDS DISHA RAVI TO 3-DAY JUDICIAL CUSTODY

A Delhi court Friday sent climate activist Disha Ravi, arrested for allegedly being involved in sharing a “toolkit” on social media related to the farmers’ protest, to three-day judicial custody.

Police said that her custodial interrogation was not required for the time being and the agency may seek her further interrogation once her co-accused—Shantanu Mukul and Nikita Jacob—join the interrogation.

Police said Ravi was evasive during her previous interrogation and tried to shift blame on the co-accused.

Mukul and Jacob have been asked to appear before the investigating agency on February 22, the agency told the court.

Hearing a separate plea from, Disha Ravi, the Delhi High Court Friday directed police to abide by Home Ministry guidelines and not “rush to the press with half-baked, speculative or unconfirmed information about ongoing investigations”. It also directed editors of media houses to exercise “proper editorial control” over news content to ensure that investigation in the case is not hampered in any manner and that the content is not “offensive” and “scandalising”.

The High Court was hearing arguments in a plea by Disha against the “leaking” of her WhatsApp chats, allegedly by police, to the media.

ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE INTENSIFIES AMAZON PROBE, GOVT SEEKS INFO

The Enforcement Directorate has widened its probe linked to e-commerce major Amazon, seeking details about the sellers on its Indian platform and also its deal with Kishore Biyani-led Future Coupons. This follows a Reuters report citing internal documents at the Seattle-based firm on how it dodged the govt while violating FDI guidelines in giving preferential treatment to a group of sellers.

In a parallel development, the govt has asked the investigative agency for a status report on its ongoing probe into alleged violations by Amazon. In a letter to Amazon and Future Coupons, ED has sought information on contractual agreements between the two, mode of investments, financial transactions and govt approvals, an official at the federal agency pointed out. Amazon has also been asked to furnish the details of sellers associated with it and their inventories during a certain period.

Under the FDI rules, online marketplace players such as Amazon cannot hold any inventory unlike in other countries, and they must not exercise any control on sellers on the platform. The rules formulated about two years ago stated that the inventory of a seller or a vendor will be seen as being controlled by a marketplace if the purchase by any entity exceeded 25 per cent on the platform.

On the basis of its deal with Future Coupons, Amazon had moved court to stop Biyani’s deal with Reliance Industries, arguing that there was a breach of agreement. Investigative agencies are now probing the alleged foreign laws violations in the American major’s deal with Future Coupons to assess if that transaction had legal validity in the first place.

According to the Reuters report, only 35 out of a total of 400,000 sellers accounted for two-third of its online sales. It said that the US-firm had exercised significant control over the inventory of some of its biggest sellers such as Cloudtail and helped them cut special deals with major brands.

INDIA TO FILE APPEAL AGAINST CAIRN'S $1.2 BILLION ARBITRATION AWARD

India will file an appeal against the Cairn arbitration award, which it lost, soon and will defend its sovereign rights to tax, sources said, even as Cairn Energy Chief Executive Officer Simon Thomson again met Finance Secretary A B Pandey on Friday, seeking a swift enforcement of the more than $1.2-billion award during his meeting with top finance ministry officials.

Sources said the govt would contest other suits filed by Cairn Energy at various other international forums. The energy major has filed a case in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands on executing the December 21 award.

Meanwhile, sources said the govt welcomed Cairn’s move to reach out for a resolution and any resolution would have to be within existing laws. They said Cairn had conducted transactions via tax havens to evade taxes.

Thomson had sought a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Before the meeting with Pandey and other finance ministry officials on Thursday, Thomson had said the firm’s shareholders wanted the matter to be resolved quickly as the “award has been granted”.

MEDVEDEV SETS UP FINAL DATE WITH DJOKOVIC

Russia's Daniil Medvedev lived up to Novak Djokovic's praise as the "man to beat" at the Australian Open when he charged into his first Melbourne Park final with an impressive 6-4 6-2 7-5 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas today.

The rangy Medvedev wrapped the Greek fifth seed in a blanket of pressure at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena, capturing his 20th successive victory and 12th straight over top-10 opponents to earn a shot at ending Djokovic's dynasty in Sunday's decider.

Fourth seed Medvedev served like a machine until broken in the third set, which revived the Greek fans in the terraces as Tsitsipas roared to a 5-4 lead. But the Russian silenced a hostile crowd with the decisive break in the 11th game, then smacked a forehand into the corner on his first match point to seal it.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. - Theodore Roosevelt

OFF TRACK

After a caller gave a technician at IBM her PC's serial number, he scanned a database of registered users and responded, "I see you have an Aptiva" desktop unit. 

Before he could say another word, the caller shrieked and said she'd be right back. When the customer returned, the technician asked if she was all right. The caller responded: "Had I realized you could see me, I never would have telephoned in my bathrobe."